To think that if you cancel on the day with the NHS, you should be put to the bottom of the list?

@Taztoy

and I’ve tried ringing the number on the letter but it rings out.

Yup, OH has just gone through the same. He has an appt letter from our local ENT for a severe throat lump which may be linked to his cancer. Two phone numbers at the top of the letter - one just rings and rings - he's tried numerous times over the past couple of weeks, the other number is unobtainable. He phoned ENT reception and they said they couldn't help and he needed to speak to the appointments dept and just gave him the same numbers he already had that didn't work!

If the NHS can't even get the right phone numbers on their letters, they really can't be surprised if patients miss appointments.

I don't think you're the right fit for a "caring" profession if you don't understand nerves/anxiety!

'Do the 50% that need chasing actually attend when given a time and day via letter?'

It used to vary, but not usually, no! We would try to get hold of them 3 times either via SMS or email, then send the letter with a booked appointment as a last resort. I was doing all this admin myself as a band 7 clinician, because the actual admin support we had was so limited. You're constantly trying to do far too much with far too little

I'd say it depends on the person.
I have a friend with many complex health issues, both physical and mental. Whilst they do often get appointments scheduled that they can attend, sometimes they get rescheduled and their organised transport falls through, or the support that was supposed to be provided isn't available, in which case the friend has to cancel (and sometimes on the day). They've also had to cancel on the day owing to being unexpectedly quite unwell.

Do the 50% that need chasing actually attend when given a time and day via letter?

(In case that comes across as challenging, I'm genuinely asking)

Where I live you need to book a taxi a week or more in advance. There’s no uber in rural areas!

On 3 occasions I received the letter the day before or the day of the appointment- leaving absolutely no opportunity to attend!

Yeah

i I have no family round me. No problem as I’ve never asked for a thing.

when we get hospital appointments you can quarter it will be on a day which I can’t make because of child care issues or my husband is away with his job. It’s so rare and the drs know how hard I find it to get childcare. However I always cancel and never just ignore it or not turn up but it’s a pain with the new you can only change it twice. But there’s nothing I can do.

'Even better, imagine getting... an email or text to book a slot!'

I used to do this when I was a clinician. All the bloody letters we sent out drove me around the bend. I just don't think it's acceptable to send out a letter saying your appointment is on Weds 22nd at 10am or whatever - I hate that as a patient, and I wanted to give people a choice.

So I started texting or emailing parents (children's service) to say please contact us to book your child's review. About 50% of the parents got in touch promptly to book in, about 50% needed chasing and chasing and chasing. There's honestly no perfect way of doing it, and it is incredibly frustrating when you feel like you're trying to meet people halfway and give them a choice. As a previous poster said, people are people and there are no easy answers

Can't you book these patients for end of day. Say a 4pm. Then by the time the 3.30pm patient has been seen at at 4.30 then you know the regular appt misser hasn't turned up and it's not delayed anyone else

I think you are right OP, the money wasted on missed appointments is very high and a complete waste yet the majority of people will moan about the NHS failing to provide and under delivering.

Well, you're body is in a kind of box...

I'm sure I remember getting letters years ago to book online. Seems you can't do that anymore

It doesn't look anything like a coffin.

I'm sorry, but you can tell that it looks a bit like a coffin. It's pretty obvious that some people won't want to go into one of them. I suppose the fact that it's noisy isn't common knowledge, but the shape of it is.
I'm not claustrophobic, but I remember seeing those flotation tanks on TV years ago and knew immediately it wouldn't be for me.

Even better, imagine getting... an email or text to book a slot!

I got threatened to be turfed off a waiting list for missing appointments. I did have a good reason though, like being an inpatient for a month at the same bloody hospital ( as I tried to explain to the depression receptionist on phone from my hospital bed)

Didn't stop the snottiness from her as I couldn't confirm when I'd definitely be able to attend a rebootked apot

Yes they do. Like the one I had months before for a phone appointment, planned my time around, then the week before I had another letter moving it to 2 days later.

I duly reorganised my work days to make sure I could take the call, waited all afternoon, then phoned the dept at the end of the day when I'd heard nothing - only to discover they had no record of the second letter at all and had tried to call on the original date while I was in the back to back meetings i'd had to reschedule because of their second letter.

No doubt that will have gone down as a 'no show'.

Ds's appointments have been cancelled on the day because he won't (can't) move or because taking him would put him and others at risk due to challenging behaviour. Now he lives in supported living this is never seen as a problem but when he lived with us we had lots of hassle getting HCPs to accept this.

I used to work for a small, local charity service for a while. We had so many (very) last minute cancellations and no shows. Regrettably we did have to implement a 2 strikes then suspended from using service for 6 months rule. Unfortunately you can't even use the 'unless genuine excuse' route because people do lie. Cancellation policies (particularly NHS ones) can't be too harsh though because although it's frustrating, in my experience the most vulnerable people are the ones who cancel last minute for what seems like crap reasons. There's complex socioeconomic dynamics at play.

DD1 has her own Motability car there, and it’s insured for the care staff to drive it, so long as they haven’t had a motoring conviction in the last 5 years. The default staffing there is 1:1 for each resident - some have 2:1, 3:1 or 4:1, but that wouldn’t include a team leader or manager in their staffing.

Come on OP now you’re just trolling. We’ve all had NHS letters giving us appointments for the week before because they just didn’t get sent out. It’s so common it’s apocryphal.

I hope to goodness you aren’t treating any of these people.

I got a letter at 1.24pm today for a gynae appointment last Friday.

they cancelled my previous one the day before.

so. I’ll have been a dna.

and I’ve tried ringing the number on the letter but it rings out.

Why on earth would they do that? You make no sense.